There is no ceiling to the potential rise in Latvian transit cargoes, but it all depends on infrastructure, Jevgenijs Slobins, railway operator AS SRR Board Chairman, told business portal Nozare.lv.

It is not difficult to attain cargo flow when there are certain prices and, especially, mutual trust among companies. The question is whether we can process this cargo flow. It is not a question to us, though, but rather to terminal operators. It all depends on the capacity, he stresses.

Slobins points out within the framework of Eurasia Multimodal Alliance, developed together with French Gefco, SRR can send five trains via Riga port weekly, however, neither the port, nor the border points have capacity enough for that. So, we send only one once a week, he says, adding, though, that both the port and the railway are developing their infrastructure.

Due to the lack of capacity, some cargo is shipped from Kazakhstan to Lithuania despite it is more expensive, the businessman explains, indicating the rise in cargo volumes depends on improvements in infrastructure between Latvia and Russia.

According to Slobins, SRR cannot process all the cargoes in a single terminal in Riga port, thus, several are used. Hopefully, a new one will be developed by Nacionālais konteineru termināls (National Container Terminal). Moreover, all operators in Riga port want to boost their terminals capacity, he adds.

Leave a reply

72.8 thousand people were unemployed in 2018. Compared to 2017, number of unemployed persons dropped by 12.6 thousand or 14.8 %. Last year, Latvian unemployment rate constituted 7.4 %, which is 1.3 percentage points lower than in 2017.

British investor and activist against Russia-related money laundering, Bill Browder, has voiced plans to submit a criminal complaint against Swedbank to Swedish authorities over its involvement in alleged money laundering transactions in the Baltics.

German law enforcement institutions have finished investigating the ‘Russian Laundromat’ case. Latvian Economic Crime Enforcement Department assisted their German colleagues with the investigation, as reported by Latvian State Police.

On Thursday, 21 February, Latvian firefighters were called in to deal with the first grass fires this year. This first such fire this year was put out in Ugāle, where last year’s grass was burning on an area close to half a hectare.

London seemed to soften its stance in Brexit negotiations with the European Union from fruitless attempts to re-open the withdrawal agreement to securing new guarantees to reassure eurosceptic members of the British parliament over the time frame of the temporary Northern Ireland border rules.

Spanish train manufacturer Talgo has appealed the decision made by Latvian Procurement Monitoring Bureau on re-assessment of results of the procurement of electric trains, saying that PMB has made big mistakes and wrong conclusions, which resulted in an illegal decision, Talgo representatives say.

Large rallies have been held in Slovakia on the first anniversary of the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancee that brought down the country's government, but still has not been solved.

The centre of an anticyclone is currently above Scandinavia. This anticyclone will start gradually moving south-west on Friday, 22 February. It will also dictate weather in Latvia – the sky will become clear but air will remain chilly, promises Latvian Environment, Geology and Meteorology Centre.

In an unprecedented move yet, Lithuania’s law enforcers busted this week what it may be an organised, yet impenetrable until now ring of the country’s some A-tier judges and lawyers. Some of the big names have deliberated high-profile legal cases implicating some of Lithuania’s most heinous criminal gangs.

Saeima has supported Foreign Affairs Committee’s legislative draft intended to ensure better legislative cooperation and protection of people’s rights during the transition period after the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, as confirmed by the parliament’s press-service.

When travelling abroad, Latvian residents are afraid the most of ending up in a traffic accident (56%), fall ill (54%) or become injured (53%), according to results of a study performed by If Insurance.

Compared to December 2018, the level of producer prices in Latvian industry rose by 0.1 % in January 2019. Prices of products sold on the domestic market grew by 0.4 %, but prices of exported products reduced by 0.2 %.

On Thursday, 21 February, the Saeima supported in the second reading amendments to the Law on the Handling of Tobacco Products. These changes state stores will no longer be allowed showcase tobacco products on shelves. Instead tobacco products will be sold using price lists, as reported by Saeima’s press-service.

«We only want what was promised to us before elections,» said Latvian Trade Union of Education and Science Employees chairperson Inga Vanaga in an interview to LTV on Thursday, 21 February, commenting the talks held with government representatives the previous day.

Following three British MPs leaving the ruling Conservative Party amid Brexit impasse, British head of government held more talks with the European Union that were constructive according to both Pirme Minister Theresea May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

A peacekeeping mission with the mandate of the U.N. to Eastern Ukraine could bring the Donbas war to an end, but first Secretary-General Antonio Guterres should send an assessment delegation to evaluate the possible options, stated Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Swedbank does not have sufficient information to comment the accusations voice by Swedish media in regards to the bank’s possible involvement in money laundering schemes, said the bank’s governor Birgitte Bonnesen.

Baltic News Network uses cookies to customize content for readers and analyse information flow. Cookies can be deleted at any time in your browser’s search settings. We inform you that cookies may also be used by third parties and our cooperation partners, for example, when you read BNN news in social media.